Biggest Lies Told by Car Sales People

The girl and I were looking at cars this past weekend and we ended up at Lexus stealership. We got an older gentleman and we were ready for the BS game. Surprisingly, he was very courteous, not pushy and really tried to make things happen for us.

We wanted to test him and lowball offered 22k for a 26.5k car and he willing took the time to take it in and make the offer to the higher ups. Of course it was rejected, but he tried. A couple other places we were at (Honda, Acura and Toyota), the sales persons wouldnt even consider asking their sales manager for anything if it was more than $1k off MSRP (all used or CPO cars). But he did say one huge lie though.

According to him and his dealership, "Lexus only makes 200k cars for the global market annually. After that, they stop making cars for that year." I quickly google'd fu sales figures for the IS250 and RX330 for the 2006 calendar year. Just those two models alone accounted for 212,xxx of Lexus' sales for that year. Then we have the ES, GS, GX, SC, LS and LX. He quickly replied, "You can't trust everything you read on the internet." Other then that, he was actually a pretty cool guy.

cliffnote: Sales person said Lexus made no more than 200,000 cars a year and no more after that.

What's the most outrageous lie you have heard from a stealership sales person?
​

On the parts/service side of things a Honda dealership in Chicago's tech told me they had to tear the entire dash apart just to find out what security code I needed for my 2000 Civic Si's radio. Told me it'd be at least 2-3 hours worth of labor. I told him I knew for a fact he could look it up by the VIN, a minute later my radio worked just fine.

On the parts/service side of things a Honda dealership in Chicago's tech told me they had to tear the entire dash apart just to find out what security code I needed for my 2000 Civic Si's radio. Told me it'd be at least 2-3 hours worth of labor. I told him I knew for a fact he could look it up by the VIN, a minute later my radio worked just fine.

Click to expand...

That's wierd, because I have to do just that. Last one I did was a CRV radio. Yeah, the "dash has to come apart" but it was 5 minutes. Honda dealers in CT couldn't look up the number from the VIN.

As far as my lie story, they all lie. Everything out of their mouths is a lie. Try to grab a reformed car salesman and go to the dealers - it's good stuff. I almost bought a 2005 Mustang in 2006 with my friend at the time - a snake car salesman. Within minutes he picked apart all of his tricks, and I had what I wanted at $16k. (didn't buy)

The last time I went to a dealer was to check out a Fiat. The Fiat people truly knew nothing about leases - so I had to show the salespeople and their manager how lease pricing works, and how to calculate the mileage and pay-off amounts. Other than that, the Smart dealer is a flat-price place where the salesmen are there to keep seats warm and pick out Sirius stations to pipe into the showroom.

I had read it on a forum somewhere that they could just look it up off the VIN while googling a solution. Im thinking its something only Honda dealer/tech employees have access to. Otherwise it kind of defeats the purpose of the security code. lol

from personal experience I can tell you its much easier to get the security code if you have a vagina
my friend's girl was able to get any security code for any radio
I believe she always used the information on the actual radio, i know at one point they could give you the code based on VIN, but who knows how that system has changed over the years.

They don't try to lie to me anymore- because within 5 minutes of me walking into the stealership, they've figured out that I know more than any of them about the car they're trying to sell...

Click to expand...

+1, i've never really had an issue with any of the cars I've bought or shopped for. I fully accept going in that I know more about said car than the sales man does. I also know what I want for my trade, to pay, etc, and if the numbers don't work, I leave. I don't go in for bullshitting. I drove genny home about 3 hours after i went for a test ride. And that was because I had to go home and get the stock exhaust for the M i was trading in that they wanted, and its an hour round trip

some, if not most of them, are pretty persistent. we had one where after test driving an accord, the guy refused to give back our keys. i asked like 2 or 3 times and he kept beating around the bush and saying stuff lie is it the payments? is it the car? etc.. etc.. i just go up and left and let him chose if he wanted to hand my keys to me or a PD. Management is a joke, you cant ever find those guys unless you're actually signing the bill of sales.

btw, it was Wittmeier Honda in Chico, CA. That place is full of fucks. Actually, all the Honda dealers north of Sacramento are fucks. I would recommend Honda of Davis.

Oh yeah, off topic but for those who've owned a luxury car ie BMW, Audi, Lexus, etc... why did you get rid of them? Id imagine the maintenance cost and the price of fixing them when they do break. My girl is pretty damn set on a IS250.

The girl and I were looking at cars this past weekend and we ended up at Lexus stealership. We got an older gentleman and we were ready for the BS game. Surprisingly, he was very courteous, not pushy and really tried to make things happen for us.

We wanted to test him and lowball offered 22k for a 26.5k car and he willing took the time to take it in and make the offer to the higher ups. Of course it was rejected, but he tried. A couple other places we were at (Honda, Acura and Toyota), the sales persons wouldnt even consider asking their sales manager for anything if it was more than $1k off MSRP (all used or CPO cars). But he did say one huge lie though.

According to him and his dealership, "Lexus only makes 200k cars for the global market annually. After that, they stop making cars for that year." I quickly google'd fu sales figures for the IS250 and RX330 for the 2006 calendar year. Just those two models alone accounted for 212,xxx of Lexus' sales for that year. Then we have the ES, GS, GX, SC, LS and LX. He quickly replied, "You can't trust everything you read on the internet." Other then that, he was actually a pretty cool guy.

cliffnote: Sales person said Lexus made no more than 200,000 cars a year and no more after that.

What's the most outrageous lie you have heard from a stealership sales person?​

Click to expand...

funny. One thing I learned selling cars...anything in sales for that matter are the negative assumptions made before even stepping foot on the lot or store. Yeah car salesman have a bad rap for a reason. I get it. i used to hate the business too until I became one. I get the BS comments from some lot walk ups but i don't let it get to me. I'm here to help you find a vehicle.

From what I can read (please don't take this the wrong way) you had your guard up the moment you stepped foot on the lot. You were READY to 'play' the bs game.....hmmmm. suprisingly enough he ended being being pretty nice. then you TESTED him but giving him an unrealistic figure which was clearly pulled out of your ass....but he entertained it anyway. so you just did it for fun? cmon man.

not justifing the honda stores for what they have done but if you didn't give any inclenation to purchase or even serious other throwing numbers out there of course they are going to stand behind their product and not whore them out

and out of all things you call his lie out on a pety comment out how many cars lexus makes?

One piece of advice for some of you peeps. When you need help it's ok to ask for it. When you're ready to purchase, do your research at home if you want to be better prepared. invoice can be found online almost at any website so there nothing to lie or hide.

If you sincerely want to purchase a vehicle and want to look and drive it then go ahead. if the car is right, the payments and bottom line look fair then purchase it. If you wanna suck every penny out of the deal it does'nt matter how much you get you will NEVER be happy. maybe content but not happy with the overall experience.

everyone is diffferent so hopefully next time you walk on the lot try to learn about your salesman and talk to him as person. you'll be suprised at how much easier a car deal can be made.

Actually taco I'm not as mean-hearted as you think I am. People have their guard up for a reason. A rotten apple can ruin the whole basket. So I had my right to be cautious.

He helped us out a lot and was patient, so we helped him out. We bought the car. I'm not going to disclose how much we ended up paying but it didn't take much haggling. Ill post pictures later in the other area of the forum.

Actually taco I'm not as mean-hearted as you think I am. People have their guard up for a reason. A rotten apple can ruin the whole basket. So I had my right to be cautious.

He helped us out a lot and was patient, so we helped him out. We bought the car. I'm not going to disclose how much we ended up paying but it didn't take much haggling. Ill post pictures later in the other area of the forum.

Everyone hates getting lied to, and many salesmen(not limited to cars at all) will lie to make a sale. When they lie, it usually ends up costing you money and/or time.

I've personally never had a problem with car salesmen because I usually know what I'm looking for and disregard any "opinions" from the salesmen(I'm guessing they pick up on this right away). Though, I have gone with friends and basically saved them from making a bad buy(they were basically buying into what the salesman was telling them).

Few days ago I had taken my Evo into the stealership for a "complimentary" x point inspection. While I was there I decided to browse the Evo X's just to waste time (I think this is their tactic for giving these things away for free to bring you back into the dealer). Anyways, immediatly this lady asks me if I'm looking for a new car. No, my car is here getting service and I'm just walking around looking. She goes on to tell me how much more of an economical decision it is to buy a new car rather than maintaining my old car. She says "tires, brakes, all that adds up". I said ya, to less than a single month's car payment.. lol. So I see this Evo X and I say "oh you guys are still marking these things up over MSRP". She goes on to say every dealer does. No, San Rafael doesn't. She then says well they still mark them up in other ways. How is that so? Is the dollar worth more in San Rafael than it is in Concord? WTF? So I decide to troll her a little and tell her I bought my Evo from them at $500 over invoice. She says well it was still marked up. Ya, but not marked up by $6,000! smh..

In other news, the Evo passed with flying colors. Said it was one of the cleanest 8's they have seen in a while.

I think the biggest problem with salespeople (in general) is just exuding an overabundance of confidence on topics that they often times don't possess great expertise in.

They may or may not have poor intentions, but rather than show weakness by admitting a lack of knowledge, they'll either run with the little information they were provided by their boss/company/etc (without questioning it) or they'll embellish what they've been told.

How many times, as a car guy or as an XYZ guy (name whatever sport, hobby, etc, that you're passionate about and you know a lot about) have you spoken with a salesperson and just been disgusted by their utter lack of understanding? [That SRT-4 is so fast, it'll can beat a Z06!!!#435]

Lets be honest, what sort of asshole thinks that when they pull onto a used car dealer's lot - that the car salesman should intimately know the history of the car. Do these clowns think that he was actually out there with Grandma on Sundays when she was only driving the car 10miles per week? What he knows is whatever was provided at the auction or what he's found in his time test driving the car - which really isn't anything more than what you can find out yourself. ...but they're putting that salesperson in a position, that if they acknowledge they don't have a ton of information on the car, the person is just going to get cold feet, walk on to the next car, and ask the same asinine questions.

Long story short. Many times, people want to be lied to... That want to be made to feel more comfortable and confident about their purchase. They don't want to have to think for themselves.

If you found a sales person who does their research, who knows their market, they can be invaluable to you personally or professionally. It's similar to having a free consultant. I'm out of the logistics business and was able to save one of my insureds about $30,000 a year in his transportation costs for his e-commerce website that sells motorcycle helmets/apparel/etc simply because I took the time to learn logistics when I was making my living in that industry.